Eve’s Blog: Carol (Harold)

Hello. It’s me. This is like 8 million years late but I also don’t tend to watch things unless they’re on my computer screen. Yeah, yeah. Pirating is bad. But ain’t nobody got $12 to shell out every week for a movie and then get busted for sneaking in gummy bears so I didn’t have to pay an extra $3 on their crazy food price hike.

But I digress.

If you’re an academic of the queer variety, you’ve probably at least heard of the Patricia Highsmith novel The Price of Salt from the good old repressed era of the 1950s. It’s a pretty gay book. Two ladies fall in love while one of them is trapped in a custody battle for her children and the other is dealing with a really annoying boyfriend. It’s dramatic, it’s intense, it was probably way ahead of it’s time when it came out (ha, puns). And it’s like, queer reading 101. And get this, it’s one of the only lesbian stories with a happy ending. No one gets shot or jumps off a building or moves away in heartbreak.

I know what you’re thinking, that sounds fake, but it’s not. Lesbians can be happy too, apparently.

Because of that, it’s been the ultimate lesbian novel, basically since it came out (ha). The thing is, this book was super duper helpful for cultivating and also combating lesbian stereotypes. Besides the uncharacteristically happy ending for our lady lovers, the novel also combated the gendered stereotypes of a lesbian relationship, aka the idea that someone has to be “the man” in a relationship. There’s this whole existential crisis that our bambi character, Therese, has when she realizes she and Carol don’t fit the butch-femme paradigm she’s come to know in lesbian relationships. It’s just two gals being pals. Important book right here.

It’s been adapted before as one of those boring radio dramas but the big one we all know and love is the movie that came out last year with Cate Blanchett (bless us for we are not worthy) and Rooney Mara (adorable). It was a pretty good movie, actually, it was one of the best movies of the year. People smarter than me (yes, they do exist) put on plenty of “best of” lists at the end of the year and it got all sorts of dazzling reviews.

SO WHY WAS IT SNUBBED AT THE OSCARS?

I’ll be real here, I don’t know much about the social hierarchy and popularity contest crap that goes with the Oscars. But I do know it’s pretty effed up when Brokeback Mountain, a queer film about two men falling in love gets all sorts of praise while the film adaptation of the ULTIMATE lesbian novel gets totally brushed off, despite everyone putting it on their shortlists. And they didn’t even fill up all their category slots.

But I’m digressing again, I guess.

The real point of all of this is to convince you guys to go read this book. I know we live in a better time and lesbian media is a lot more accessible than back then, but this book has persisted through the decades and is still one of the most positive representations of a wlw relationship. So do yourself a favor and dry those tears from when Tara was shot and read something heartwarming.